fox sage
by in the eyes of the beholder
Summary: it's been ten years since he left the village. one day hiashi appears while naruto was resting in a tea shop in the land of flowers


Been a long time huh. Anyway I don't own Naruto and blah, blah, blah. Read, review oh and if you're a beta message me. I need one

Naruto stared up at the gates of Konoha. _Has it really been 10 years?_ It felt like it was just yesterday that he had left his childhood home after the great ninja war. Memories of that day still resonated in his head. He sighed 'why am I here?' It's been to long since he left. He promised himself he would never come back. Yet here he was. Standing at the gates of a village he once called home. _Oh yea... That's why._ He thought back a few days ago to a tea shop in the land of flowers.

He was a little tiered and slightly annoyed. Whoever had been following him since he left the hidden flower village was doing a horrible job at tailing him. He knew he had been there the moment he stepped foot outside the village. While he didn't like being tailed, he didn't really since ill intent from this man so he let him continue to tail him for the last few hours. That and the chakra signature was vaguely familiar. Which sparked his interest greatly.

Glancing ahead he noticed a little tea shop off the side of the road. Deciding now was a good time to rest he opened the sliding door of the shop and walked in throwing a friendly smile to the waitress behind the counter.

The waitress, a short girl with pretty blond hair wearing a purple kimono. She turned to him and smiled shyly. "Welcome to Mimi's tea shop and inn! My names Sarah, how can I help you?"

"I'd like a place to rest and some tea please." He smiled widely at her. She blushed a little and let him to his table and left to get him his tea.

He sighed as he relaxed into the surprisingly comfortable chair. He felt the chakra signature that had been following him enter the shop and approach his table. Glancing at the man as he approached he was surprised to see none other than Hiashi Hyuga, the patriarch of the Hyuga clan, take a seat across from him with a menu in his hand.

There was a long pregnant silence that hung in the air between them for a few seconds until Naruto decided to break it. "You're a lousy at keeping your presence hidden, you know that?" The Hyuga leveled his pupil less eyes with Naruto.

"How long have you known I was following you?" He asked as he looked back down at his menu.

"The moment I left the village hidden in the flowers." At the moment there waitress showed up with Naruto's tea.

"Oh I'm sorry. May I take your order?" She turned to the elder Hyuga male.

"Cinnamon tea, please." damn Hyugas and their love for cinnamon. His thoughts turned to certain lavender haired girl at that moment. He shook his head to clear his thoughts of her… she loved cinnamon more than the rest of the Hyuga combined. That brought a small smile to his face.

"So Hiashi, care to tell me what you want? I'm fairly sure this is no social visit." He stared down the Hyuga in front of him. Hiashi slumped his shoulders slightly.

"I need your help, Naruto" in that moment the Hyuga male looked much older then he usually looked. "Hinata has been kidnapped." Naruto visibly tensed, but only for a second.

"Why come all this way to find me? I'm sure Konoha has enough competent nin for a simple search and rescue." Slipping a look of indifference on his face He evened his gaze with Hiashi. On the inside his stomach curled at the thought of Hinata, HIS Hinata, in the hands of some unknown missing nin. He was going to help regardless... He just liked to watch Hiashi squirm a little.

"There's 5 confirmed kidnappers. All SS ranked in the bingo book... Not even a team of ANBU captains would have a chance against these men." His eyes were pleading. "Please... Naruto, we've heard rumors of how powerful you've gotten since you left. They call you the sage of nine tails or the fox sage for short."

He's heard those rumors as well. He kind of liked the name. Suddenly Hiashi stood from his chair and walked around the table. Naruto's eyes nearly popped out of his head when the elder Hyuga got down in his knees and bowed deeply before the blond. "Please, Naruto, save my daughter!"

_Well this is interesting. Not every day you see the head of the Hyuga house hold beg for your help. _Naruto stood from his chair and bent down to the elder man. "You don't have to bow to me Hiashi." He stood the man up. "You know I'd never let anything happen to her."

"Thank you Naruto. I owe you a great debt."

Naruto shook his head. "You owe me nothing. I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for her." he cracked his neck and walked towards the door of the inn, leaving money for the tea and a considerable tip for the waitress.

On his way out he glanced at a mirror near the door. Wow, _I've changed a lot of over the past 10 years. _He took in his appearance. He grew out his blond spikey hair a lot over the years. It still stuck out everywhere but it was tied into a low pony tail in the back. He ditched his orange and black jump suit years ago. Now he wore a long black coat with deep red flames along the bottom with an orange lining on the inside. A black combat vest with a red undershirt, dark navy cargo shorts and black boots. A huge red and black scroll strapped across his back. A tribute to his late god father, Jiraiya the toad sage. He missed him every day.

A hand on his shoulder shock him out of his musing. He turned to see Hiashi standing beside him. "I've brought a few of your old friends with me to help you. Although I doubt you'll need it." He motioned outside where he saw 3 figures standing waiting for them.

"NARUTO! YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHT AS EVER!" Naruto was lifted up in bone crushing hug by his green spandex wearing friend.

"LEE! Can't… breath!" Lee released his hold on his old friend. Naruto clutched his side… which probably had a broken rib or two.

"nice to see you again, Naruto." Shikamaru, held out his hand, a friendly smile on his face.

Naruto rubbed his side with one hand while shacking shikamaru's hand with the other. "Good to see you to pineapple head." A small laugh escaped his lips at his lazy genius friend.

An arm was thrown across his shoulder and a loud happy bark rang out. "Naruto, How you been buddy!" Naruto threw his arm back across kiba's shoulder.

"Been doing great till your ugly ass showed up." he grinned. Akamaru forced his head in-between his master and Naruto and have a loud happy bark. "You too Akamaru." He reached down and scratched the dog behind his ears

The odd quartet took a few minutes to catch up. His friends asking about what he's been up to and Naruto giving loose details about the lands he's been in. finally Hiashi interjected and reminded them why they were there in the first place.

"Hiashi's right. Every moment we waste, hinata gets harder to find." Naruto spoke, scratching his chin in thought.

"I have her scent it's faint and keeps disappearing but me and akamaru can still track it. Right buddy?" Akamaru yipped in agreement.

Naruto gave a small chuckle. "No offense kiba but I'll take care of the tracking. Don't get me wrong, your nose is great but pressed for time and I kinda want to find her today. And from the information I've already gathered she's been gone for a couple days."

"how are you going to track her Naruto?" shikamaru's curiosity evident in his voice.

A feral grin crept onto naruto's face. "oh, I have my ways." He turned and walked a few hundred yards from his friends. Naruto's blue eyes started to bleed red into the irises and his pupils turned from round black dots to two black slits. Biting his thumb, his hands flashed through hand seals before slamming his hand into the ground. Red demonic chakra swirled around Naruto before there was an explosion of white smoke.

When the smoke cleared his friends tensed up. Before them was the nine tailed demon fox laying down seemingly sleep with Naruto sitting cross-legged on its head. Ten smaller foxes of varying size and tails were standing in front of the fox all looking up at Naruto, waiting for him to speak. "Ok listen up!" he jumped down in front of the group of foxes. "Hinata has been kidnapped and we don't know where she is." He pulled a lavender colored bow from his back pocket and held it out in front of him. "this is her scent. Find her, when you do send a pulse of demonic chakra into the air. It'll act like a bacon then you can go back home." Each fox in turn sniffed the bow before running off in a different direction.

Finally a little fox, about the size of Akamaru when he was a puppy, stepped up to sniff the bow. Naruto put it back in his back pocket. "Sorry, Hotoro. Kurama would kill me if I let you go on this."

The kit growled at Naruto. "Aww come on! He never lets me do anything fun!"

Naruto reached down and scratched the little fox's ears. "Sorry little guy. Maybe next time."

Just then the great fox demon opened one of his eyes and looked down at the little fox. He spoke, his voice like deep rumbling thunder. "if your mother knew that I let you in on this she'd castrate me." He scoffed "and you think I'm the scary one." He gave a mental shudder at the image of his mate when she's angry… she makes him look like a damn insect on comparison. "Now go on home little one. I can already feel her getting worried. "

Naruto laughed at the kurama's parenting. "You're a great dad you know that." The fox demon grunted and closed his eyes again.

Less than a few hundred yards away his friends looked on in amazement. This was turning out to be an interesting trip.


End file.
